Currently the largest automotive alliance, the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi group registered record sales for the first half of 2018. Compared with last year’s figures, the alliance recorded a growth of 5,1% with 5 538 530 sales as of 30 June 2018.

While there’s been a general increase in demand alliance-produced crossovers, bakkies and eco-friendly vehicles, Renault, in particular has noted increased sales of its Clio, Captur and Scenic offerings. Nissan revealed higher demand for the Note, Serena, X-Trail and Qashqai, while Mitsubishi’s Eclipse Cross and Xpander MPV generated strong figures.

Renault secured 21,9% of the European EV market share with plentiful sales of its ZOE and Kangoo Z.E., while the new (SA-bound) Nissan Leaf secured 47 000 sales in the first half of 2018, including 18 000 sales in the European market. This makes it the best selling EV in that part of the world. Mitsubishi was able to secure the PHEV (petrol-hybrid-electric-vehicles) SUV market with its Outlander hybrid.

Total sales per company for this period consist of Renault and Dacia’s with 2,1 million units; Nissan, Infiniti and Datsun with 2,8 million units and Mitsubishi on 636 648 units. The alliance forecasts growth will increase over the coming years and projects annual combined sales of round 14 million by the end of 2022.